Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets Preview and Prediction

The Los Angeles Lakers will host the Denver Nuggets for the second time this month and try to snap their three-game losing streak.

When the Lakers and the Nuggets met earlier this month, Lou Williams and Nick Young almost brought the Lakers back from a 19 point deficit with their combined 46 points. Unfortunately, they came up just short and fell to the Nuggets 127-121.

One thing that kept the Lakers in the game last time was their ability to grab rebounds. They were only outrebounded by the Nuggets, the second best rebounding team in the NBA, by two. With Nikola Jokic out for tonight’s game, Los Angeles should try to use their size in the paint to their advantage.

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Denver might also be without three of their best guards, Jamal Murray, Emmanuel Mudiay and Will Barton. In their last meeting, Mudiay finished the game with 14 points on five-for-seven shooting from the field and Nuggets Twitter lost their mind.

Apparently having the worst field goal percentage in the NBA and trailing D’Angelo Russell in literally every statistical category, except free throw percentage and minutes played, makes him the point God. Sigh.

Unfortunately, the two will likely not get a chance to duel again tonight as Mudiay is listed as questionable with a back injury. Probably from carrying the Nuggets with his mind blowing 12.1 points per game. I don’t know, just a guess.

Prediction

I have the Lakers winning tonight. Hear me out.

With D’Angelo Russell back in the starting lineup, the Lakers offense will have some structure (I’m hoping). He’ll also get some run in with Ivica Zubac, who is ending the month of January on a high note. This all packaged up with the fact that LA is coming off of a four-day break gives me the feeling it won’t be another 19 point blowout in the first half.

This all packaged up with the fact that LA is coming off of a four-day break gives me the feeling it won’t be another 19 point blowout in the first half. Hopefully, that time off gave Brandon Ingram an opportunity to get some much-needed rest because Ingram has been subpar to put it kindly.

The key to winning this game, and every game as long as Lou Williams is on the roster, is going to be the bench. When the bench gets going, the Lakers are a very tough team to beat. The injury bug is slowly crawling out the Lakers locker room, so key bench mob players like Larry Nance Jr. and Tarik Black will be available.

I just really want to see them win. It’s been too long and I’m sure they’re tired of losing too.